In Memoriam

[Grace]

Denmark

Pfc. Erik Berre Rolandsen

From: Denmark
Age: 26
Unit: Kompagniet B, 1. Bataljon, Den Kongelige Livgarde (Company B, 1st Battalion, Royal Life Guards)
Died: August 7, 2010

One of two Danish soldiers killed when their infantry fighting vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in Helmand province, Afghanistan.

[Grace]

Denmark

Pfc. Jimmi Bøgebjerg Petersen

From: Denmark
Age: 28
Unit: Kompagniet B, 1. Bataljon, Den Kongelige Livgarde (Company B, 1st Battalion, Royal Life Guards)
Died: August 7, 2010

One of two Danish soldiers killed when their infantry fighting vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in Helmand province, Afghanistan.

[Grace]

7 August 2010

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Spc. Faith R. Hinkley, 23, of Colorado Springs, Colo., died Aug. 7 in Baghdad, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked her unit in Iskandariya, Iraq. She was assigned to the 502nd Military Intelligence Battalion, 201st Battlefield Surveillance Brigade, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.

[Grace]

8 August 2010

The Department of Defense announced today the deaths of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

They died Aug. 8 at Zhari Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked their unit using an improvised explosive device.

Killed were:

Sgt. Andrew C. Nicol, 23, of Eaton, Mich.,

Pfc. Bradley D. Rappuhn, 24, of Grand Ledge, Mich.

They were assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, Fort Benning, Ga.

[Grace]

7 August 2010

The Department of Defense announced today the deaths of two Marines who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

The following Marines died Aug. 7 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan:

Lance Cpl. Kevin M. Cornelius, 20, of Ashtabula, Ohio.

Pfc. Vincent E. Gammone III, 19, of Christiana, Tenn.

Cornelius and Gammone were assigned to 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.

[Grace]

8 August 2010

The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

Pfc. Paul O. Cuzzupe, 23, of Plant City, Fla., died Aug. 8 in Akhtar-Mohammad-Khan, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his unit using an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 3rd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Calvary Regiment, Vilseck, Germany.

[Grace]

Vietnam

Soldiers Missing in Action from Vietnam War Identified

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of two U.S. servicemen, missing in action from the Vietnam War, have been identified and will be returned to their families for burial with full military honors.

U.S. Army 1st Lt. Paul G. Magers of Sidney, Neb., will be buried on Aug. 27 in Laurel, Mont., and Army Chief Warrant Officer Donald L. Wann of Shawnee, Okla., will be buried on Aug. 21 in Fort Gibson, Okla.

On June 1, 1971, both men were flying aboard an AH-1 Cobra gunship in support of an emergency extraction of an Army ranger team in Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam. After the rangers were extracted, helicopters were ordered to destroy claymore mines which had been left behind in the landing zone. During this mission their helicopter was hit by ground fire, crashed and exploded. Pilots who witnessed the explosions concluded that no one could have survived the crash and explosions. Enemy activity in the area precluded a ground search.

In 1990, analysts from DPMO, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) and their predecessor organizations interviewed both American and Vietnamese witnesses and produced leads for field investigations. In 1993 and 1998, two U.S.-Socialist Republic of Vietnam teams, led by JPAC, surveyed the suspected crash site and found artifacts and debris consistent with a Cobra gunship. In mid-1999, another joint team excavated the site, but it stopped for safety reasons when the weather deteriorated. No remains were recovered, but the team did find wreckage associated with the specific crash they were investigating.

The Vietnamese government subsequently declared the region within Quang Tri Province where the aircraft crashed as off-limits to U.S. personnel, citing national security concerns. As part of an agreement with JPAC, a Vietnamese team unilaterally excavated the site and recovered human remains and other artifacts in 2008. The Vietnamese returned to the site in 2009, expanded the excavation area and discovered more remains and additional evidence.

Forensic analysis, circumstantial evidence and the mitochondrial DNA match to the Magers and Wann families by the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory confirmed the identification of the remains.